Good Afternoon, Flowers! The sun is shining brightly after a cloudy morning. The wind is ongoing! The kids and grandkids have left to attend a birthday party for one of the ushers in their wedding. The house is quiet! I just finished some sewing on Jason's sheriff's reserve shirt; it took me longer to unload the sewing machine than it did to sew the shirt.

"Gma" -- I hope you are feeling better by the time you read this! I've had the sore ribs from coughing so hard and it's not fun. The last couple of mornings I've had a "catch" in my "get-along" . . . I think it is the siatic (sp?) nerve area. I can hardly crawl out of bed in the morning, but by the time I've showered and walked around a bit it goes away. I even wake up "hurting" to change positions in bed.

I need to change laundry loads so had better keep moving. Have a relaxing evening and a great "rest of the weekend!"

Just a quick one since we couldn't get in here this morning. Hope everyone is having a good holiday weekend. I am struggling to get over this gunk. It sure is wanting to hold on this time.

We are just hanging out at the house watching baseball and NASCAR this afternoon. I have played some video games online, did some laundry, but am trying to take it easy today hoping I can get over this as I need to clean downstairs.

We sure do hop every time the phone rings! lol Haven't heard anything so guess everything is a-ok still.

Good morning! I am sure everyone is having a lovely holiday! It is bright and sunny and very warm here today. I have been up cleaning my downstairs and knitting. I have finished putting the body of the sweater together and am now knitting the sleeves.

Jack is snoozing on the couch at the moment, but we are going to get cleaned up and go out in a little while. I want to get the car washed and start getting the stuff packed into the car. I just have a feeling it is going to be this week. My gut is seldom right, but I want to be prepared. We tried to call them this morning since we hadn't heard from them, but they weren't home and we haven't heard back. I imagine they are at her sister's or something for the day. As long as she is ok, that is all I care about.

I am still coughing some and blowing my nose, but I am getting over this mess. My ribs and muscles still hurt an awful lot, but that will go away in time, I know. This was sure a rough bout with a cold though. Jack had a couple days of coughing a hoarseness and it went away.

I am down another 3 lbs so I surely will take it. I am now below 330, which pleases me and heading towards twoterville, which will thrill me no end. I hope I can get by Labor Day.

Well gals, I am going to go and finish up my work, get a shower and go back to knitting. Have a great time today and enjoy good weather if you have it.

Good Afternoon, Flowers! The sun has been playing hide 'n seek all day while the wind is blowing like crazy. I'm glad it is not snowing or we would have huge drifts to plow through. The kids left a couple of hours ago, the house is quiet, and the washer and dryer are doing their jobs. Bob is outside washing the boat. I finally got the Sunday papers read and here I am!

"Gma" -- I tried a couple different times yesterday and never did get in here. Congrats on losing another 3#s! I am dreading WW tomorrow because it seems like all I did was cook, cook, and cook some more over the weekend! We'd just get the kitchen cleaned up and Ian would ask for a snack! Of course whatever he got, Zowie wanted one too. She is a two-fisted eater . . . wants one for each hand. She is happy if you open the individual package of whatever and give her one for each hand rather than two packages, which is good! I hope you continue to feel better and the cold is gone permanently asap. You know that waiting for babies to arrive is like watching and waiting for water to boil!

Have a nice rest of the day . . . I can hear the dryer buzzing so it is time to change loads. Tomorrow is terrific Tuesday so enjoy!

Good morning gals! I am going to take Jack to work today, go and get a couple things from the store and go and get the car washed.

We talked to Jay and Alicia last night and she is pretty close from all indications. She said she has been having contractions, some everyday now, she said she has dropped dramatically in just the last couple days. So, we loaded the car with as much as we could last night and are just sitting on the time bomb waiting for it to do off now! Jack said she sounds really cheerful, but she really wants to get it over with now. The saga of all expectanct mothers. No matter how lovely the pregnancy, there comes a time when you are fed up with it and just want it over with. She did tell him she wants her husband, her mom and ME in the delivery room, which touched me. Jay is not thrilled, but his dad told him last night, "You have to do this for her son."

I still am dealing with the cold, but I am getting better day to day. I haven't been able to go swimming of course and the pool keeps calling my name! I doubt I get in it all week at this rate.

We went to see the newest Pirates of the Caribbean movie and were very disappointed. The screenplay was dreadful and disjointed and confusing. The cast would do something, but the screenplay didn't explain previously what the reason was so you were like, "Huh?" all through the movie. Waste of money. The theater was packed to the rafters though.

Well, I am going to finish up my downstairs chores. I hope to get the bathrooms upstairs cleaned today if I can find the time. I finished doing a 3 needle bind off on the shoulders and finished one sleeve of the sweater and will try and start the other one, but I emailed Kelly asking her to measure T's arm length so that I make sure and make the sleeves long enough. He is a pretty gangly little boy and I want the thing to fit him for awhile. I made a size 6-8 and even lengthened the recommended body about an inch front and back so I am sure that part will fit him. I can easily take the bind off out and lengthen the sleeve as long as I don't sew it in, so I hope she remembers and can measure him this evening for me.

Everyone have a good Tuesday. Confusing week for me all the way around. I am not going to know which day of the week I am on pretty soon with the holiday and everything going on.

Good Morning, Flowers! It seems strange to be posting so early in the day. The sun is trying to peek through the clouds although rain is in the forecast for the day. I've been to the retirement breakfast and need to go to WM for some MIL items. Bob said the can opener was a piece of rusty junk and the dish drainer was too grubby when he cleaned the cabin. I'm surprised he noticed. Our staff luncheon is at 11:30 so will do the WM errand afterwards. I have laundry going and need to make a "to do" list so I don't get sidetracked which is my usual mo.

"Gma" -- Isn't the official baby due date in June? Maybe he is waiting for June to arrive. I know how hard it is to wait and then the drive ahead of you to boot. Amanda was knitting wash rags when she was here . . . she says it keeps her from eating. I may give that a whirl. I still have her Christmas stocking to finish. It's only been in the works since 1999!

Susan -- A clean car is so nice and I would say the price is really reasonable. We did turn on the gas fireplace the other morning because it was just plain chilly in the house. The air conditioner will run w/o the furnace "part". I would just like to get it fixed in time for fall. The company does more commercial jobs than residential now so I suppose we aren't very high on the list.

Not much else is newsy from here, so I'm off to make my list. Have a great day!

Good morning ladies! The cold is dwindling, thank heaven's and I am feeling better. Not ready for the cold pool water just yet though. Probably won't attempt that for a few more days or until we get back from the baby.

Jean: The baby's due date is Monday, but two weeks ago she moved her up a week. I talked to my sister and she said she talked to Alicia yesterday and last Wed at her dr appt she had dialated 2 so I expect by weekend we may be making the trip. I hope I hear from her today after her appt. If she has dialated further they may strip her membranes to get some action going. He is hanging on that is for sure. She told my sister she feels great though and you know with both my kids right before labor I had this burst of energy and felt on top of the world. I have heard it is because of a burst of hormones for giving birth and it causes the endorphins to go mad. When we talked to our son on Sunday he said their gas is $3.50 a gallon! We are at $2.97 here. Our big old car is gonna cost us to go to Indiana that is for sure. Hope you are having a nice time relaxing on your summer vacation.

Susan: Sounds like your car is all ready to go now. Regular maintenance is so expensive nowadays. How are the socks coming along. I always seem to have so many gift projects going I have yet to get to start any socks. I would like to make dd and dil a pair each for Christmas, but I have a sweater for dd's birthday in November, a sweater for T, a lace scarf for dil all to start yet and have to finish up T's birthday projects and the baby's hoodie jacket that I have started. I knit pretty fast so I think if I can learn how to do socks I could probably knit up a pair fairly quickly.

My dd called in tears pretty much sobbing yesterday. If you remember Jean, I told you about her peeling blistering fingers that they have been treating her for. I am afraid it is much more serious than that. The doctor is almost positive she has sytemic scleroderma. She has long been having problems with choking, heartburn, gall bladder pain and such and the doctor did an ultrasound yesterday and said she had no stones, but she did have calcium deposits in her gall bladder. I guess the systemic type of this disease calcifies organs along with the skin issues and other things. She took a blood test to make sure but with all of Kelly's issues she is pretty positive already. This disease cannot be treated only the symptoms. It is pretty serious though people live for years with it. If she does have the systemic type of this disease it can eventually kill her and that is why she was freaking out. She has a friend who has the disease and has been given 5 years on the outside. Of course, Kelly reads like a demon and knows all about this disease because of her friend and that made it worse. Knowledge is not always power. I told her that we were always here to help her and that we would help her tackle the issues one at a time as they came up and not to get ahead of herself.

Well, I need to clean out the cat box then get back to knitting. I am starting the hood on his sweater this morning. Jack forgot to take the vacuum up last night and I still can't carry things up the stairs without it causing a coughing fit so no vacuuming for me this morning.

Faye, one of my work friend's wife has scoloderma. Her skin is calcifying on her arms and chest. The doctor said it will continue up her neck and face and she will eventually have to have a feeding tube. She has 3 children 10-14-19. I never heard of it until she was diagnosed. Sometimes the internet is a curst - before all this information became available, we didn't know everything about a disease. Now we read it and immediately assume the worst. Her 10 year old found information that said she'd be dead in 5 years and has freaked out. The progress of the disease seems to have slowed in the last few months so we all continue to be hopeful. I will add you daughter to my prayer group.

Socks are easy, Faye, you could knock a pair out in a few days, or less. The yarns are so much fun (but $$$).

Jean, you are a brave woman to go to WM in the afternoon. If I can't be there by 9 am, I wait for another day. I hate crowds.

There was a notice in the paper today that they are starting a farmers market in Yorktown so I'm looking forward to that. You can bet I'll be there bright and early.

I had to be a helpless old lady yesterday - my boss had me order a storage rack for our computer. It came in a huge wooden crate. The delivery driver said he didn't think he could get it through the door so he'd leave it in the parking lot. I'm frantically thinking how I can get someone to come and uncrate it and move it in before night. I told him boss was out of town and I didn't know what to do. I showed him where it was going. He said he'd try to get it in. About 10 minutes later he comes wheeling it in - he uncrated it for me and hauled the crate away.

__________________
Susan

HW 356 pounds - CW 135 - GW 137

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Good Afternoon, Flowers! The rain has arrived . . . just when my basement is finally completely dry. At least we haven't started the cleaning process yet; Bob is going to try a waterproof (?) paint of some sort after we scrape and clean the mold that has accumulated. Doesn't sound like fun to me. I actually accomplished quite a bit this morning: shaved my legs, polished my toe nails, sorted through the toy box and put pieces back together, and cleaned out the fridge. Bob came home for lunch and wanted to know what I had done all morning. Just because he couldn't "see" what I had done he thought I had been in the recliner watching TV all morning.

"Gma" -- I have never heard of systemic scleroderma. I hope that the diagnosis will turn out to be something different for Kelly. Will she have to have her gall bladder removed? I agree that sometimes no knowledge is better than knowing. You are one day closer to being "Grandma to two!" I just did the cat box . . . forgot to tell Bob about that chore!

Susan -- That is too bad about your coworker and worse that her child found the information on the disease. I never did go to WM; I dread going so much I put it off as long as possible. Bob wanted to go after a muff(ler) (?) for the boat last night and I begged off. Of course they didn't have what he wanted and neither did any place else, so he ordered one online. It's what you put on the part of the motor that sticks in the water so that you can start it without it actually being in the water. You hook a garden hose to it (?) so that water is running while the engine is running. I would have needed help with the crate too; I'm glad the delivery man helped you. I can barlely get jars open any more.

I need to keep moving. I am washing my grungy shower curtain liner. Have a nice "rest of the day" and a terrific Thursday tomorrow!

Good morning ladies! I am in a particularly good mood today. My dd called last night and all her tests came back negative. Thank you Jesus! She goes to the dermatologist next Wednesday and may have to have biopsies on her hands and feet to try and find out what is wrong with her.

Jack is positive we will get the call today so we shall see how accurate he is. Waiting is always difficult, but I think when you know you have a big drive ahead of you to get there on time, it makes it worse. Since I know every inch of that drive, I know how long it takes to get there.

Oh, I finished his sweater yesterday so am posting a pic. I think it came out pretty darn cute. I just am keeping my fingers crossed the head hole is big enough otherwise the hood has to be completely torn off and redone or left off completely. I always get nervous about the neck fitting after seeing so many projects of other people where their neck was too small.

Susan: Do you ever use the website knitpicks.com? They have great yarn and if you go there and click on their clearance, they have a fingering weight on clearance right now in some great colors. I think the hank is $3.99 and will make one pair of socks. So glad you got your crate indoors. What an awful thing to happen to your neighbor's child. I guess there are all sorts of progressions to this disease. The actor Bob Saget (Danny Tanner from Full House) had a sister who died from the disease and is a big proponent of the charity.

Jean: I cannot believe the amount of rain you guys are getting. We have had very little. We had a bit overnight on Tuesday night, but not much for quite awhile. It is hot and humid here though. I would just get masks and spray Tilex all over the concrete. It will take the mold right away without the scrubbing. I use it on my patio furniture as it gets mildewed from being outside.

Well, gals, I need to get some work done. I hear the washer is finished so the stuff is ready to dump into the dryer.

Good Evening, Flowers! For whatever reason I could not post this morning when I visited. I dumped a bunch of emails, cleaned out some files, and defragged so consequently lost my post that I had written. It was a nice day in my corner of the world today. I'm slowly catching up on laundry and ironing.

"Gma" -- I hope "baby day" will be tomorrow since I don't see where you have left yet. The sweater picture came through great and once again I am impressed with your knitting ability! I'm sure it will be a big hit. We are going up to the cabin tomorrow; Bob is going to mow and replace a light switch while I go grocery shopping for the breakfast basics. They (mil, bil, and sil) will get in fairly late Saturday night so will have breakfast items ready for them on Sunday; then they can make a list and go from there.

Good morning gals! Well, as you can see, no baby call yet. I have to say I am surprised to tell you the truth. With her braxton hicks going on now for a couple weeks, the fact she has dialated some, I would have thought she would have gone into labor by now. Maybe this weekend as her original due date is Monday.

Jean: Have fun at the cabin this weekend. Hope the weather is nice for you all. How long does it take you to drive up there? You know, the more I knit the better I become. I still am not proficient at a lot of things, but I am now **** on wheels at seaming! When I first started making stuff I thought I would never learn to make a hidden seam but I have become quite good at it, especially setting in sleeves. I have only made one raglan sweater though and that was Kelly's so I don't know whether I am too good at that yet. I can have problems reading and understanding patterns. Thank goodness I have help with it when I need it from an internet friend I met at the knitting site I belong to. I have more trouble with necklines being neat. One thing I always screw up in doing 3 needle bind off for shoulders. I invariably do it backwards and the seam ends up being on the outside so I have to rip it all out and do it over. I think it is a lefthanded thing actually because I have to do stuff backwards. There are these little baby caps called umbilical cord caps (see pic of one someone else knit) and I would love to make one for the baby to wear in the hospital if I can find a pattern and have the needles here at home to whip one up. I think I have yarn that I could use.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Maybe we will be winging our way to Indiana sometime between now and Monday. I sure hope so.

Well, Faye, guess that baby has a mind of his own already and will make his appearance when he is good an ready! I'm sure you'll get the call this weekend.
That sure is a cute cap!

My husband is back in the hospital. When they checked the A-V graft incision on Wednesday, the one under his arm had become infected. They had the doctor come right in and look at it and he made an appointment to see the surgeon yesterday. As soon as he saw it he said he had to be admitted to the hospital so they could begin IV antibiotics immediately. He actually wrote the orders and I hand carried them down with us to the emergency room so they could get them started while the got a room for him. They are going to take him to surgery sometime today and open it up, clean it out, etc. After that he's going to dialysis at the hospital so I came to work since I can't be with him there. They'll keep him a few more days so that they are sure the infection is gone before he goes home. Other than pain at the site, he feels fine. He's eating and cheerful. Personally, if it was me I'd be depressed and carrying on.

__________________
Susan

HW 356 pounds - CW 135 - GW 137

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Good Afternoon, Flowers! We've had blue sky, clouds, rain, and sunshine today -- such weather! We made a fast trip to the cabin; Bob mowed and replaced a light switch while I made a WM run. I have to admit that WM store is really nice with wide aisles and LOTS of merchandise to choose from. Makes our local WM look even worse.

"Gma" -- On the weekends, if one drives the speed limit and doesn't get caught in traffic (lots of "no passing" hills and curves) it takes an hour and 15minutes to get to the cabin. During the "off tourist season" we can make it in an hour. There is a bridge being replaced in a bigger town we have to drive through and that is the only way to cross the river for miles in either direction. The baby hat is sure cute! I've not seen that one before. I have a friend who is left handed, but she golfs, knits, and crochets right handed. You have more patience than I do to rip out and redo.

Susan -- I'm sorry to hear that Stan is back in the hospital, but he is where he needs to be. I'm glad his spirits are good!

I need to get started on laundry and put my WM purchases away. Have a nice "rest of the day" and a great weekend. We are going to my "mom's" for lunch, visit the cemetery where my parents are buried, and attend a wedding in the eastern part of the state tomorrow. It will probably be late when we get home again. Sunday is a "good-bye" potluck for our senior pastor although I don't think we will go to that, just attend the church service.